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Solar garden makes is debut

By Janessa Maxilom

jmaxilom@alamogordonews.com @janessa_speaks on Twitter

Posted:
01/24/2014 07:28:04 PM MST

Janessa Maxilom - Daily News
The Otero County Eelectic Cooperative solar garden located adjacent to the Alamogordo Substation just west of the Charlie T. Lee Memorial Relief Route. The solar garden cost 250,000 and is OCEC's first solar panel project, according to Clint Gardner the OCEC manager of member services.

Utilizing the regions abundant sunshine is the next step in renewable energy for the Otero County Electric Cooperative.

The OCEC celebrated its first solar garden, owned and operated by the company, with a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday.

The ribbon cutting ceremony was at the OCEC solar garden located adjacent to the Alamogordo Substation just west of the Charlie T. Lee Memorial Relief Route.

Clint Gardner, the OCEC manager of member services, said it cost the company $250,000 to set up the solar panels.

"We've been looking into solar energy for a couple years," Gardner said. "We're proud to have our first solar panel garden (today). The 76-kilowatt project will provide renewable energy for our members and valuable experience to OCEC employees."

Gardner said the solar panel garden is a step in the right direction for OCEC for many reasons.

"The project, which provides enough energy to serve the equivalent of approximately 23 homes, diversifies OCEC's mix of power used in our energy portfolio and assists OCEC in addressing carbon emissions," he said. "It helps us meet our renewable energy requirements as well."

According to an OCEC press release, the solar garden consist of 253 panels, and each panel creates 300 watts.

"The project, which provides enough energy to serve the equivalent of approximately 23 homes, diversifies OCEC's mix of power used in our energy portfolio and assists OCEC in addressing carbon emissions," he said. "It helps us meet our renewable energy requirements as well."

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Gardner said OCEC purchased the panels from the Affordable Solar company based out of Albuquerque.

He said the panels utilize a micro-inverter technology with one micro inverter per panel.

He added that the system is more efficient than traditional string-inverter based systems and allows the owner to monitor the performance of individual photovolactic modules.

"The solar panels are separated into 23 individually metered systems which consists of 3.3-kilowatts residential sized systems," he said. "Each of these systems has a dedicated login for remote monitoring via the web to provide remote monitoring of panel status, output and production of energy at each metered system."

According to Gardener, projections for the first year of energy from the solar panel garden is estimated to produce 142,854 kilowatts with a respected reduction of seven percent per year due to natural degradation of the photovolactic panels.

He said the company is planning to invest more in solar energy in the future and has the space at its current garden to accommodate more panels.

"In the foreseeable future, OCEC intends on developing a program for member participation in this or other similar projects," Gardner said.